Operation Salem
by carminefalcone
Summary: Who does the secrecy of magic protect: Wizards or muggles? The CIA catches wind of the wizarding world and launches OPERATION SALEM. Primary objective: Develop a plan and the means to neutralize-and destroy, if necessary-the magical world if it threatens the United States.


**AN: Thanks for reading! This is my first fanfic. Constructive criticism wholeheartedly invited and accepted!**

**###~~~###**

_1991, Langley, VA.  
__CIA Headquarters._

"What the _f*ck_, Laura?"

"Director Roberts?"

"This report. What the actual hell. Let me get this straight. You kidnapped a local. You carted him over from Egypt to Guantanamo. You tortured the crap out of him. Okay, that sucks, but it's not something we've never done before. But usually, we do it for a reason. Laura, tell me this. Tell me the reason."

"An officer reported that while engaged in conflict with the subject, the subject projected lightning and reanimated corpses to defend himself and to attack the officer."

"Yes, exactly. That's exactly what it says on the report." The Director glanced up at the deputy, his mouth open in mocking disbelief. "We kidnapped, shipped, and tortured a foreign national because some crack-addled sonuvabitch said he was… shooting lightning from his fingers and raising zombies."

"Not his fingers, Director. The report describes the lightning as coming from some kind of small wooden stick—a wand—that the subject carried."

The Director paused and took a deep breath. "Laura. Explain to me why I have this ridiculous dossier on my desk."

"Ridiculous… that's what I thought at first, too," Laura replied. "Read the report in more detail when you get the time, Director—it's been double-checked, cross-checked with all the witnesses and footage we have, we tested the officer in question for the drugs you suspected—everything is credible. It wouldn't have ended up at your desk otherwise."

The Director sighed, adjusting his spectacles. He looked up at the deputy, stoic, dressed in a conservative grey suit, the very image of professionalism. He contrasted this image with the ridiculous report: zombies. F*cking zombies. Finally, he spoke up. "Laura… You're a smart woman, and you've always been reliable. I'll check it out, but it better not be bull."

The Director quickly flipped through the summary reports of the file. As he skimmed the contents, his mind raced, but he forced himself to be calm—a skill perfected over decades of experience. He looked back up at the deputy.

"Laura, if this is all true… the implications," he whispered.

Laura nodded. "Magic, Director. A seemingly global conspiracy of supernatural beings—witches, wizards, other creatures we thought only to be mythical—this is big. Though the mages don't seem to have hostile intentions for the time being, we should take action as soon as possible. Here's another file describing my proposal for an operation." Laura handed Roberts another manilla folder.

Roberts read the red-block-lettered label on the folder: _Operation Salem_. "Give me the gist."

"Our first thought was to try and investigate the areas described by the captive as places where mages congregate. I took the liberty of sending a few agents to scout out the locations. The captive had mentioned that we would be prevented by a number of wards protecting these places, but we didn't expect them to be as effective as they were. We haven't tried drastic entering measures yet, but we're hesitant to do so, as they would reveal our knowledge of the mages—and being covert in this operation is imperative, at least at this stage, where we don't yet know the extent of the mages' abilities. As such, it seems impossible to enter these areas covertly as non-mages."

The Director interjected. "So what can we do, then?"

"Well… the captive suggested that although most mages—our collective term for the magical humans—have at least one mage parent, there are occasional anomalies where a mage is born to two non-mage parents. Our plan banks on this anomaly. I propose that we search the nation for any young children who are displaying magical abilities. We closely monitor their growth, while blocking any contact with the mages. Eventually, we reach out to recruit them as agents—specialized, magic-wielding CIA agents. From there, we'll have the means to infiltrate and learn more about the mages."

The Director continued flipping through the proposal file for a minute, before leaning back and closing his eyes. After a deep breath, he opened his eyes once more. "Laura."

"Yes, Director."

"I'm going to be busy these next few months wrapping things up once Operation Desert Storm finally ends. As you know, it's given us a chance to develop an unprecedented power of position in the Middle East, and it would be terrible to lose it once our troops pull out. So, I'm going to have to delegate this operation fully to you."

"I understand, Director."

"Keep me updated, but unless otherwise stated, you have my full power to do whatever is necessary for your operation. Like you said, this is big, bigger than anything you or I have ever seen, and we've both been in this business for a while. Laura, I leave _Operation Salem_… I leave what is conceivably _the fate_ of America, to you."

Laura nodded before turning around and leaving the office. It was time to hunt some witches.

**###~~~###**

**AN: An excerpt of the first report Laura Myers handed Matthew Roberts**

**###~~~###**

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

Directorate of the Intelligence

24 February 1991

INTELLIGENCE REPORT

On the Interrogation of the Egyptian Mage

SUMMARY OF EVENTS

INITIAL CAPTURE

Last Friday, around 0510, Lieutenant Ralph Adam noticed a strange figure loitering around the town of Ron Itan, which had been bombed earlier in the day and was being surveyed for survivors. When he called out to the figure, the figure began running away. The lieutenant pursued the figure, who pulled out a small wooden stick (see "Wand" on p.42) and pointed it at the lieutenant. The wand emitted a large amount of "lightning," which the lieutenant was able to dodge, due to the poor aim.

The lieutenant then stopped pursuing the figure and called in support. As more soldiers came to surround the figure, the figure raised his wand, the tip of which lit up with a bright orange light and shouted an unintelligible phrase. A few seconds later, some of the nearby corpses left behind from the bombing began to get up, as if alive once again (These corpses were later confirmed by autopsy to have been dead at the time of this incident). These corpses began to attack the soldiers closing in on the figure. However, as these corpses were unarmed (some of them literally armless), they were subdued easily by the soldiers. The soldiers involved all corroborated the lieutenant's story.

Eventually, around 0600, the soldiers closed in on the figure, who looked like a twenty-year-old Egyptian and was dressed in a long white robe. The soldiers opened fire; many of the initial bullets halted to a stop and dropped to the ground before hitting the figure. However, after several rounds of firing, three bullets penetrated the defense, hitting the figure's anterior right shoulder, anterior left thigh, and posterior neck. The figure soon fell into shock from blood loss and was captured and taken back to the base to be interrogated.

CONTAINMENT AND INTERROGATION

Post-capture, the wand was confiscated from the captive, along with his leather bag and robe. His bag contained a notebook, a collection of trading cards containing moving photos, and a book called (translated from Arabic) "101 Advanced Curses for the Field Researcher." There were also fifty-three articles of clothing and about one-hundred-thousand forty-five dollars ($120,045) worth of various currencies, including unidentifiable gold and silver coins. See p.98 for a detailed inventory of the confiscated possessions.

Upon examination and treatment, Dr. Harold Bengalt noticed that the bullet in the neck had penetrated the spinal cord at the C2 vertebrae, likely making him a tetraplegic. He also noticed that the bullet seemed to have been shot at a much closer range than the other two bullets, leading him to suggest that the paralysis may have been a purposeful action by the soldiers who caught the captive. An investigation has been opened up against Lieutenant Adam on this issue.

When the captive woke up, he was initially reluctant to offer any information about himself or his abilities, providing only his name, Abdul Qasim. After applying aggressive persuasion techniques, however, Qasim became cooperative. He revealed that…

[END OF EXCERPT]


End file.
